In a strange coincidence, three U.S. Presidents died on the Fourth of July. Two of them died mere hours apart!

In a strange coincidence, three U.S. Presidents died on the Fourth of July. Two of them died mere hours apart!

John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe all died on July 4th. Adams and Jefferson, who both signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 died on exactly the same day: July 4, 1826. Thomas Jefferson drafted the original Declaration of Independence which John Adams vigorously defended in the Continental Congress, so it was fitting that they both died on the fiftieth anniversary of when the Declaration was adopted.

Adams spent his last day celebrating the Fourth of July with a toast, "Independence Forever!" Not knowing that Jefferson had already died just hours before, Adams, on his death bed muttered "Thomas Jefferson lives" before he himself died.

President James Monroe died on July 4, 1831, exactly five years after Adams and Jefferson died.